To understand the way urban Indian women plan, prioritise and manage their money, DBS Bank India, in partnership with CRISIL, have undertaken a comprehensive study entitled ‘Women and Finance’.
Over 800 women were surveyed across 10 cities in India on a wide range of behaviours, including their involvement in financial decision-making, goal setting, saving and investing patterns, adoption of digital tools as well as their preferences for different banking products.
The insights from this study are pertinent for businesses, regulators and financial institutions as well as a revelation when it comes to understanding the variations of Indian women’s relationship with their finances. The survey findings pointed to factors like age, income, marital status, presence of dependants and home location as major influencers of the financial behaviour of women.
Decision making dynamics and evolution of goals
The findings revealed that about 47 percent of women in urban metros make independent financial decisions. Age and affluence play a pivotal role in shaping these decisions. Women over 45 years old, with their wealth of experience, emerge as the leaders, with 65 percent making independent financial choices compared to 41 percent of those aged 25-35 years.
The report provides glimpse into the growing empowerment of earning, metropolitan women. Across India, a woman’s primary long-term financial priority evolves with age. Buying/upgrading a home is priority number one for those between 25-35 years, while it evolves to children’s education for those in the 35-45 year category and to medical care for those above 45 years of age. Expectedly, retirement planning is seen entering the consideration set for the first time in the 35-45 year age cohort.
Prashant Joshi, managing director and Head of Consumer Banking Group, DBS Bank India, said, “The insights from the survey highlight the importance of financial stability in the aspirations of independent female earners across India. Ownership of financial decision making, diverse investment and borrowing choices and growing adoption of digital channels are all evidence that the modern Indian woman is not just a participant, but a planner of her journey.”
Saving, borrowing and investment behaviour
Women earners in the metros tend to be risk-averse with 51 percent of their investments parked in fixed deposits (FD) and savings accounts, followed by 16% in gold, 15 percent in mutual funds, 10 percent in real estate and just 7 percent in stocks. This tracks with behaviours from DBS Bank India’s own customer insights where 10 percent of female customers have an active fixed deposit, while just 5 percent of male customers have opened an FD.
43 percent of married women with dependents conservatively allocate 10-29 percent of their income to investing, while in contrast, a quarter of married women without dependents choose to invest over half of their income. Regional variations lend greater depth to the insights. For example, Hyderabad and Mumbai lead the way in credit card usage, with 96 percent of women in Mumbai relying on credit cards, while only 63 percent of women in Kolkata use them. More significantly, the report revealed that half of the salaried women stated that they have never taken a loan. Among those who have borrowed, the majority opted for a home loan, which reflects the deep cultural importance associated with homeownership in India.
The study also deep dived into women’s usage of different banking and payment channels. 33 percent of those in the 25-35 age bracket prefer to use UPI for online shopping, while only 22 percent above 45 years use UPI. The report showed that UPI stands out as the preferred choice for urban women for a variety of payment needs: money transfers (38 percent), utility bills (34 percent) and e-commerce purchases (29 percent), signalling decreasing dependency on cash. Although regional nuances were stark in some cases with only 2 percent of women in Delhi opting for cash payments, while 43 percent of women from Kolkata favoured this option.